Financialization of and by International Organizations: The United Nations and the Global Climate Finance Architecture

Abstract

This contribution uses a discussion of the global climate finance architecture to put forward and illustrate a conceptualization of the financialization of and by international organizations. It highlights four channels through which the phenomenon operates: (1) the adoption of financial logics; (2) the advancement of financial innovation; (3) the embracing of financial accumulation; and (4) the direct financialization of member states’ policies and citizens’ lives. As consequence, four main types of financialization can be identified that are promoted within and by international organizations: within intergovernmental fora, these are the financialization of policy narratives, meaning the redefinition of policy challenges as questions of financial investment, and of standards; while international organizations, in their function as governing and administrative bodies, can drive financialization by turning public goods into the basis for financial assets, and through the direct representation of financial interests.